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Kano’s view was that success in contest (shiai ) was simply a by-product of training, never the point of it [7]. As an example, Minoru Mochizuki began judo in 1912 aged just 5. Later he studied
directly under Kano and also Kyuzo Mifune, the notable 10
Dan. At 19 Mochizuki joined the Kodokan and in less than two years he was promoted to sandan (3 Dan) - then an outstanding
achievement aged just 21.

At this point Kano told him "You have the makings of a leader.... in the future you will be a top teacher here at the Kodokan”.

Kano asked Mochizuki to report to him once a month concerning his training progress and to guide him concerning the true purpose of judo and the pitfalls of sports. This led to a series of meetings at which the philosophically oriented Kano attempted to stimulate the mind of the young Mochizuki who, at that time, could only think of winning tournaments.

As a direct student of Kano, Mochizuki Sensei, aged then just 23, made his own perceptive observation in 1930, still apt today:

One situation leading to delinquency involves a young person dropping out of his group of friends on a sports team. Some coaches are only interested in training team members in the
question of winning and losing. They pay no attention to those who drop out because they are only interested in winning. In sports there is no place for the weaker or the less
competent.

Personally, I would rather see various sports transformed into Martial Arts, so that they become more concerned with spiritual development and the prevention of bad behaviour. They should be more concerned with developing young people who are no
trouble to their parents, who get along well with their siblings, and with promoting good relations between husbands and wives.

Point made earlier in this paper indicate that today’s judo is no longer aligned with Kano and Mochizuki’s original ideas - a line of reasoning supported by Smith [8]:

Does anyone have any further evidence (diary notes, letters etc) of Kano's interactions with Mochizuki?

How much money do we need to raise for you Darin, I can start an English Nihonden Jujutsu fund

BTW that's not a joke...

Regards,

What about that fund? I've been trying to find that book for quite a long time now and somehow it's still hiding from me. So if Graham is still wanting to start the fund, and Darin was not joking, I will of course contribute.

This type of translation project is exactly what I and other language-challenged folks need... Why don't you guys collaborate and do this thing? The current development of on-demand publishing makes it very doable, at minimal financial investment. These stories need to be transmitted and preserved. I would be first in line to add your new book to my collection. Please let me know if you need to contact some POD publishers for more info...

My teacher has at least one signed copy. I've asked him where I could acquire one. He used to pick them up when he and my other teacher made trips to Shizouka, and he said that these days I would be hard pressed to find one.

I'd love to help with the translation, but aside from very basic budo Nihongo, I speak very little. When I say very little, I mean zero!

I would love a copy of that scan and I would be willing to contribute any other way to help with a good translation. Thank you!

This type of translation project is exactly what I and other language-challenged folks need... Why don't you guys collaborate and do this thing? The current development of on-demand publishing makes it very doable, at minimal financial investment. These stories need to be transmitted and preserved. I would be first in line to add your new book to my collection. Please let me know if you need to contact some POD publishers for more info...

When I lived at the yoseikan hombu in Shizuoka, Mochizuki Sensei wanted me to help him write a book. I told him he should have Nihon Den Jujutsu translated into English but he indicated that that would not be possible due to the agreement he had with the publishing company that produced it. He paid to have the book printed and apparently barely broke even on selling the books and he couldn't afford to do it again and he also couldn't take it to another publisher. But when we worked on his new book, we put a lot of effort into translating the front section of Nihon Den Jujutsu into English. There was some very interesting material in there and a lot of it was really funny. For instance, in one part, he told of meeting a Chinese martial artist who wanted to fight him with a bo against Mochizuki's bokken. Sensei said that the fellow started spinning the bo above his head "like a helicopter" and Sensei just stood waiting with his bokken until he saw an opportunity and he just stepped in and smacked the fellow on the head with his bokken. He said he put a knot "like an egg on top of his bald head." And there was a story about a guy in France who wouldn't come to his judo classes but spoke badly of him in public and who one day just showed up at his apartment and demanded to "fight right here, right now," on the sidewalk. Mochizuki agreed and the started into judo randori on the sidewalk. He said the guy had good timing and rhythm, good technique and strength, but at one point Mochizuki (former uchi-deshi to Mifune) saw his opening and moved in with uchi mata gaeshi (inner thigh reversal), swept the guy off his feet and threw him with so much force that Mochizuki himself came off his own feet and the two of them crashed to the sidewalk with Mochizuki on top (what else?). He carried the Frenchman up three flights of stairs on his back and put him in his bed and massaged his back. The guy couldn't get up for something like three weeks and no one knew where he was. He had just disappeared. The rumor started going around that Mochizuki had killed the guy. But finally, the guy got better and he became "a dear student" to Mochizuki.

Various problems arose with this translation. I worked on it with an Italian uchi deshi and a Japanese uchi deshi. A Japanese professor said that the English version I produced was excellent and I got a commitment from Charles Tuttle to publish the book when Alex Kask and Nick Ingleton were running the Tokyo office. This would have given Sensei an advance and would have paid him royalties, which would have continued to his family after he was gone. But some things were going on behind the scenes in the dojo and the whole project was called off in favor of another Japanese edition of a book and a two-part video set by a Japanese company in Tokyo. It was disappointing, to say the least. And as far as I know, no competent translator has ever produced a full translation of Nihon Den Jujutsu or any major part of it since that time. If anyone ever does fully translate it, I'd love to see a copy.

Best to all.

David

"That which has no substance can enter where there is no room."
Lao Tzu

I think Mochizuki Kancho would have been the sort of person to make lots of notes, so I would say there would have to be something. Were it is located, i.e. who has it, is another matter all together.

Sensei would sit at a table in his kitchen for several hours every morning, going over old writings, whiting out parts and writing in corrections and comments, day after day. He had a storage room in the front of the upstairs dojo and one day he had me clean out everything that was in there. Lots and lots of gifts from people from all over the world. He gave me a couple of little tea sets that had been given to him and he had me burn bunches of stuff behind the dojo. But none of that was the kind of thing you describe. I have no idea what he ever did with all his writings. The old hombu is still there, now under the name of Seifukai. The building was purchased by one of his later students, a prison guard who went from sandan to godan in judo over several months training with Sensei. This was Sato-san. I think he still lives there with his wife and carries on the same kinds of training Mochizuki Sensei presided over for many decades in that location.

Best wishes.

David

"That which has no substance can enter where there is no room."
Lao Tzu